Player to check....need some advice

flea · Post by **flea** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:49 pm

Hy guys,

Usually I dont use the tactical option "player to check" (in the personal tactics) but now I face a pretty hard team with a future superstar in their roster in Chris Doyle and PEI Rockets, so I would like some advice from guys who use this option.

How do u use it??

For example, if u want to check a LW, do u assign your RW or RD???

I guess for centers u assign the opposite center, right??

...also, if u assign a player to check somebody, what other tactical options do u guys use?? Gap control to tight maybe??

Thanks in advance

Greets

Post by **Minstrel** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:37 pm

If you want to set up checking to be most effective you should use line matching to put your best defensive guys against his line. It's then best to use man to man instead of 'zone'. In personal orders you'd set up your checking line LW to check their RW, C on C, RW on LW. Set the line to 'defensive'.

flea · Post by **flea** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:15 pm

Thanks Minty!!!

That will help me a lot!!!

Taloncarde · Post by **Taloncarde** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:37 pm

Minstrel wrote:If you want to set up checking to be most effective you should use line matching to put your best defensive guys against his line. It's then best to use man to man instead of 'zone'. In personal orders you'd set up your checking line LW to check their RW, C on C, RW on LW. Set the line to 'defensive'.

I was trying to set up my checking lines using man, and was running into some issues with it

For one, I couldn't assign my forwards to anyone for some reason, I'd click on one and nothing would happen.

I am also curious how this works in the Defensive zone, if you are assigning forwards to forwards, do they collapse down into the zone along with the defensemen (ie 5 players defending against 3) or will the defensemen come up to pressure the point since the other 3 are man covered?

is it possible to use a combined zone/man, ie set the unit to zone coverage so the D is in zone, but then man match the forwards, or even just the center?

Post by **Minstrel** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:53 pm

What I do is set them all up from the new 'Personal Tactics' view not from within the Unit Tactics screen (like you had to in '05) since it's faster that way especially for double checking player assignments

Taloncarde · Post by **Taloncarde** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 8:05 pm

I'll try that when I get home, I think i'm still used to the 2005 way of doing it (Bought 2007 on release day, and have not had much time to touch until now) and so I was going to the options by clicking on their name on the unit screen.

I think what i'm also trying to do is possibly try and set up a doubling system up by having the line set to zone, but one player (say my center) set to man mark, that way if say, Jagr is the person I want to double, when he is in another persons zonal coverage he will get defended by the zone defender as well as by the man marking, so it will create a little more space for the other players, but not leave such a big opening if the person man marking him misses/gets outskated.

KevT90 · Post by **KevT90** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:36 pm

What happens if you set a player to Player to check, and you do not use line matching ???

Does the player to check strategy will only works when your player and the guy you are checking are both on the ice, OR does your player gonna jump on the ice immediatly when the player your are checking gets on the ice, and play against the player your are checking, no matter wich line is on the ice ???

Post by **B. Stinson** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:29 am

kev90 wrote:What happens if you set a player to Player to check, and you do not use line matching ???

Does the player to check strategy will only works when your player and the guy you are checking are both on the ice, OR does your player gonna jump on the ice immediatly when the player your are checking gets on the ice, and play against the player your are checking, no matter wich line is on the ice ???

I don't actually know, but I'd guess that it'll just happen whenever they appear on the ice at the same time.

21Legend · Post by **21Legend** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 10:40 am

Hi, I have a few questions on this subject and would be grateful for any feedback. I like to play as defensively as I can and want to win the cup this way rather than all out attack which seems to be the way most people win. I have a very talented team (gathered as realistically as possible) but when I get to the playoffs (never lower than 4th and each time with renewed optimism) I can't get over the hump and always tend to crash out before the conference finals, usually to a team I owned in the regular season.

If anyone doesn't understand the point I'm trying to make feel free to ask and I'll try to explain better because I feel my points are a little muddled.

1) When you are playing on the road, the computer controlled team has the choice of line matchups.

I have tried many different line matchups on the road. All with individual players checked as mentioned below in point 2

a) Sticking to my matchup even when it differs from the opponent (very little success)

b) Seeing who lines up at opening face-off and matching lines from this (It's usually either 1v3 or 1v1)

c) Using (b) but turning off my line matching and just checking the players from the opposition which I think will be playing against each other. So if the computer team wants 1v3 I'd set my 3rd line to check their 1st but not match lines, just rely on the comp to match these lines.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to go about checking on the road in the playoffs?

2) If anyone is still reading:) Individual players to check. I have tried so many combinations. Man to Man coverage as I didn't think zone made much sense when trying this.

a) LWvRW CvC RWvLW

b) LWvRD CvC RWvLD LDvRW RWvLD

c) CvC LDvRW RWvLD

What do people recommend from experience?

SIDE POINT

When line matching 1v3 2v2 3v1 4v4 you still want your #1 D pairing against the opponents top line, so #1 D and 3rd line checkers.

I have tried checking the opposing 1st line in this mannor LWvRD CvC RWvLD LDvRW RWvLD the individual players I used to do so were my 3rd line forwards and top line D. Is this stupid?

Thanks for reading and sorry for the waffle

21Legend · Post by **21Legend** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:06 pm

I forgot another combination of checking players.

I use both the RW and RD to check opponent LW and LW and LD to check RW and CvC. Not quite sure how realistic it is but just thought I'd mention.

Post by **batdad** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:28 pm

That is perfect man to man coverage in real life 21Legend.

Anyway...I never use this anymore. find it takes away too much from my team, and I end up playing like European soccer teams

21Legend · Post by **21Legend** » Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:11 pm

Thanks for the reply batdad and from checking your challenge stats you're definitely the man who knows about defense! Insanely impressive stats. I don't want you to give away your secrets (unless you want to of course):) but if I can ask for hints as to how you achieve such a tight defense you'd really open up a whole new world for this poor GM.

IceTimer · Post by **IceTimer** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:06 am

All you really gotta do is put your best checker on their best player.

Post by **batdad** » Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:12 pm

21--One of the things that I do all the time, is swap up my lineup based on performance between periods. If a guy on the third line has a higher rating for that game than a guy on the 2nd line...I switch em. In some cases I even switch a C for a W etc. I also switch my line use normal, overload, equal...depending on how game is going in between periods. In the third if I have 2 PP goals already..I switch to guys from 3rd and 4th lines on pp etc. Just changes matchups..the other team does adapt in between periods, so if you change something up..it messes them up.

21Legend · Post by **21Legend** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:40 pm

Batdad -- So play the players that are playing well in that particular game, that makes sense. How's about a particular type of forecheck when trying to keep it closed at the back, you have a preference/tip?

Cheers again for the wisdom.

Post by **batdad** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:49 pm

Not really. I usually have positional low for forecheck and often go to positional high. It is more my neutral zone which I change to 1-2-2 from 2-1-2 or vice versa.

21Legend · Post by **21Legend** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:19 pm

Yeah I actually meant neutral zone, my head is scrambled. I also use 1-2-2 myself, very rarely change it. Interesting with the forecheck, I haven't really tried either of the positional options, will give them a go.

Thanks again mate, I'm sure I'll be pestering you again soon